With the weather predicted to take a further turn for the worse – and
half-term just days away – Nick Trend offers a common-sense guide to
minimising the impact for holidaymakers.

Keep an eye on the forecast and allow extra time to get to the airport. Consider booking an airport hotel for the night before the flight if the forecast is bad where you live, or en-route, but clear for the airport.

Keep posted online

Keep an eye on the airport/airline website: those are usually the quickest and easiest ways to monitor the situation. If you are with a tour operator it is vital to check with them as well as the airline, since the operator is the one responsible for making sure you get to and from your destination.

Don't presume cancellations

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Don't assume that a flight will be cancelled and simply not turn up - you won't be covered by travel insurance. And remember that you can't just cancel because you don't fancy travelling – you will normally lose the entire cost of the holiday.

Bad weather clauses

Some travel insurance policies may however cover you if you are unable to get to the airport in time for your flight because of bad weather – as long as you have taken reasonable steps to allow extra time to get there. And the terms of the policy will usually vary – it will be easier to claim successfully if you were using public transport which was delayed or cancelled. If you are driving yourself, you may need to be able to prove that the weather was so bad that you couldn't reasonably be expected to make it to the airport. Simply claiming that the forecast was bad is not likely to be enough.

Late insurance

If you haven't yet bought insurance, buying it now is probably too late to cover you for delays or missed departure. The insurer might argue that you already knew that the forecast was bad when you took it out. But it will still cover you for any problems on the return journey.

Check your snow chains

If you are skiing, and have hired a car to get from the airport to the resort, double check it comes with snow chains. And practise putting them on before you leave the airport. It is not complicated to do, but no fun trying it for the first time on a mountain road in the dark in minus 17C.

Liability for independent hotel bookings

If you have booked a hotel independently (ie not through a tour operator) you are liable to pay for the room, even if you can't get there because of bad weather. Some hoteliers may be flexible but they are entitled to charge you if they can't re-let the room. A few insurers cover this type of "consequential loss", but not many.

Cottages in Britain

The same is true if you are unable to reach holiday accommodation in Britain – a cottage or hotel for example – because of bad weather.

Airline responsibilities

If you are stranded at an airport, and your flight is cancelled or delayed overnight, your airline is responsible for providing meals and hotel accommodation for you, as well as rescheduling transport arrangements (but it is not responsible for additional compensation).

Skiing weather refunds

If the weather is so bad in a ski resort that you are unable to ski, most insurance policies will refund a percentage of your losses on ski hire and lift passes. But this only kicks in if a very high percentage of the lifts are closed. Check the small print.